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Torres vows to be 'best option' for Mourinho

Chelsea striker Fernando Torres has vowed to make manager Jose Mourinho believe he is the "best option" to lead the line at Stamford Bridge.

Published

5 April 2014

Spain international Torres has come in for criticism in the past week for a lacklustre showing in Chelsea's surprise 1-0 defeat at Crystal Palace last weekend, a result that severely hinders the club's Premier League title ambitions.

The former Liverpool man was subsequently was demoted to the bench for Chelsea's 3-1 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday, with Mourinho opting to play Andre Schurrle in a more central role.

Torres did enter the fray on the hour at Parc des Princes but was unable to make an impact on the game, and Mourinho was openly critical of his strikers after the match.

That has cast Torres' future at Stamford Bridge into doubt, though Mourinho rejected talk of an exit on Friday, and Torres is determined to work hard and prove his worth.

"He (Mourinho) has to choose the one (striker) he thinks is better and try to manage the situation with the players," Torres told The Independent. "He didn't do anything special with me. He puts me on the pitch when he thinks I am the best option and on the bench when he thinks I am not the best option.

"My aim is to try to make him feel I am always the best option for him. You have to have ways to adapt to this situation. Blame the manager? Blame your team-mates? Blame everyone? Or ask from yourself a bit more.

"I think I can do better. I can make Jose think I am the best option. That is what I have to do every day in training, all the matches. I just ask of myself the responsibility.

"The things you cannot change you can't waste your time on. I cannot (automatically) change the way the manager thinks so I have to ask myself and be critical with myself to try to understand what he wants. I have to put more and more effort into these things.

"You have to prove yourself every day. If the manager thinks there is another player better than you he is going to play and this is the way.

"Hopefully one day Jose can say 'This is my striker, he is going to be my striker' like he does with some of the players who have won the appreciation from him."